Team Bonding

The first Friday of the season, we participated in our favorite volunteering event, Feed My Starving Children. As usual, the team had a blast assembling food packets for those in need in Haiti. This 6 hour team bonding affair also included team pictures, apparel ordering, an exciting nutrition talk by the always entertaining Mark Blegen, and, my personal favorite, consumption of pepperoni pizza and crazy bread!!

Augsburg Pentathlon

After only two weeks of practice, our first meet of the 2011 season, the Augsburg Pentathlon, was met with much success on Saturday October 20th. Demonstrating our versatility and endurance, each of us raced the 100 butterfly, 100 back, 100 IM, 100 breaststroke, and 100 freestyle over the course of an hour. All said and done, we dominated the top team score with 2085 points and the top six individual finishes. The top scorer was Steffanie Jurusik with 199, right ahead of me (191) and fellow captain Sarah Vrudny (189). Steff had the top time in every event except the 100 breast, where Vrudny posted the fastest time. After such a great meet, I would say that we are on track to post some great times in the heart of competitive season.

The Pentathlon was also our parents meet, and we showed our appreciation for our biggest fans through a small reception after the meet.

Colors Workshop

What else would we do on our 1 day mid-term break, but some more team bonding. The colors work shop was a personality characterization seminar hosted by the 2011 Minnesota teacher of the Katy Smith. Katy Smith was an excellent MC with her fun and exciting orange personality. The work shop was quite enjoyable as we mingled with other St. Kate’s winter athletes and coaches, made posters, commented on accuracy of the color personalities of some team members, and of course ate delicious food. We not only found out what color represents our personalities, but how to communicate and work together with each unique color personality. It came as little surprise to me, and to anyone who has read the past two blog posts, that I have an analytical green personality. Though we had representatives of all four colors (green, blue, orange, and gold), the majority of our team consisted of the compassionate and friendly blue personalities.

St. Thomas Relay Meet

Next weekend, we took on seven MIAC teams in the St. Thomas relay meet in some unconventional events. We stacked up well in most races, posting top finishes in the 300y breastroke (4^th), 300y backstroke (4^th), and 1100y animal relay (3^rd). The grueling animal relay, consisting of a 200 Fly, 400 IM, and 500 Free, was dominated by Bridget Perkins, Steff Jurusik, and Alli Witt. Though each of the events in that relay were tough and met with resistance by some, the trio could be consoled by amazing splits and an “all-conference” finish according to coach Nicole. The whole team is looking good and should continue to perform well at the Northfield Quad next weekend.

St. Kate’s Swimming Summer Fun!

All of the wildcat swimmers and divers have been busy this summer with jobs, internships, classes, vacations, and (hopefully) staying in shape. Despite the sometimes fast pace of the summer, the team was able to get together a couple of times to give back to the community and have some fun before fall.

On Sunday, August 14, a group of swimmers, along with Coach Shana, volunteered at the YWCA women’s triathlon at Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis. We were assigned management of the Bike Course and ensured both racers and spectators were aware of all the twists and turns of the course. We also provided moral support through our loud cheering as the racers competed through the grueling 15 mile bike. Many racers commented how important our support was to keep them going on strong. In spite of an early check-in time of 6:30am, the day was quite enjoyable and ended with an equally enjoyable free lunch at the lake!

In light of lunch at the lake, a week later the team got together for a little barbeque at Lakeside Commons Park and Beach in Blaine. Luckily, we had beautiful weather and the majority of the team was able to make it with their friends and family to enjoy the summer sunshine. The team spent the afternoon playing with the coaches’ children on the playground, mingling under the pavilion, and of course enjoying the delicious cornucopia of potluck foods. My personal favorite was Bridget’s mountain of prematurely cut brownies. Overall, the barbeque was an excellent time to reconnect with friends and family, exchange summer stories, and get excited for the awesome season to come!

-Mary

Facebook - "Like!"

St. Kate's Swimming & Diving is now on Facebook. Just search for us, and if you like us, then "Like" us! You'll find more photos and information about our current team and season, so check it out!

Fundraising Fun!!!

The team waiting for the instruction to begin!! :)

At the end of May we decided to get started on our fundraising for next season. We found a great program at Valleyfair!!! If we worked for 8 hours they would pay our team!!! Soooo...we got 12 of us together...and with four friends it made 16!!! YAY!!! We worked throughout the park at the different food stations.

Afterwards we got to go back in and ride the rides. With basically no lines we got to ride quite a few!! :) It was a great way to end the day!



Thank you to all the friends who came to help out!! We couldn't have done it without you!!

Swimmers for the CURE!!!

Alli, Marissa, and Sarah at Relay!!

On April 30th, 2011 a small group of us headed over to the University of St. Thomas to participate in the Relay for Life event put on by the American Cancer Society and the school clubs from both St. Thomas and St. Kate’s: Colleges Against Cancer.

We signed up and asked for donations from our family and friends for this great cause! It was our third year participating in the event and was, again, a WONDERFUL experience. For 12 hours, from 7pm Saturday night through 7am Sunday morning we walked around the track – walking for all those we know who have had or who have cancer. The relay signifies the battle with cancer that those who have it or are affected by it face. It emphasizes the struggle, and the fatigue but also the power and dedication to overcome the dreadful disease of cancer so that one day the sun rises again and hope is found. The money all goes towards research for cancer so some day no one will have to hear the words: “You have cancer.”

We heard a speech from a leader on cancer research from the University of Minnesota as well as a personal story of the battle against cancer from a UST student.

The luminaria ceremony was then held – remembering and honoring those we’ve lost, but also celebrating the one’s who have been saved. The lights were turned off and hundreds of bags with names of loved ones who have been affected were lit up around the track. It’s a very powerful experience and again, our team came together and supported one another to get through it.

Our team raised about $280 dollars – for only four of us on the team it was a great amount and we know that any and all of it helps! Total, between the two schools, almost $29,000 was raised!! How great is that?!?!!

We want to thank any and all who supported our team in donations, and hope that this has helped to bring us yet another step closer to that cure for cancer.

Season Wrap-up!!

April 3^rd we wrapped up our season with a team banquet held on campus – with of course GREAT food!!

Family and friends joined us in the celebration of our AMAZING season. We looked at our goals we had made at the beginning and found that with hard work we could reach them! A big goal being that we placed another spot up in the MIAC!! 5^th – beating St. Ben’s and growing closer to those top four teams!! This accomplishment showed the strength of our team – leaving much to be anticipated for next season!!

Here were some other highlights from the season and the awards given:

• Both Sarah Moody and Stephanie Jurusik provisionally qualified for the NCAA national meet.

• Our coaches were both named MIAC Swimming & Diving Female Coaches of the Year!

• We lost two seniors this year, Kelley and Marissa, who will be greatly missed!! Thanks for a great four years ladies!

• [Let it also be noted]…every year after the conference meet one of the medley relays races a group of master’s swimmers (old men) who come in and swim every morning at St. Kate’s in a 200 medley relay. Each year we usually lose – till now!! This year we beat the “Morning Manglers” (as they’re called) and even have the splits, as we used touch pads to prove it!! [The fact that we wore the old – and somewhat illegal - LZR suits isn’t important!]
  

• The MOST VALUBLE SWIMMER and DIVER for their exceptional performances throughout the year and at the MIAC conference meet: Stephanie Jurusik and Sarah Moody

• The MOST DEDICATED for her commitment to the team (morning practices 4 of the 5 days a week), and love of the sport (swimming and doing P90X last summer): Mary Walters

• The MOST IMPROVED for dropping so much time in her events and making it back to finals for the first time: Reba Bisciglia

• The MOST INSPIRATIONAL for her outstanding swims at the conference meet and for always having that pump-up music during practice: Alli Witt

Thank you to all who supported us this season!! We wouldn’t be who we are without you and hope you’ll be with us again next year!!

The captains leading us into the new season are:

Sophomore Lauren Kraing

Junior Melanie Maas

Seniors Mary Walters and Sarah Vrudny

Baby You're a Firework!

Taper the swimmers favorite word and a coaches nightmare. With practices decreasing in yards our wildcats got a little antsy in anticipation for the one thing we have been working towards.....CONFERENCE!!!

And baby we were fireworks! Everyone wildcat on this team made this meet one to remember. From the career bests to the high places this team presented a strong front that took down st. bens our rival school. This would have not possible without every team member being the best they could be. Our Wildcats broke several school records on this road, our coaches even won even won Women's Coaches of the year. We even had an added bonus of no suit drama. We also had the best fans Thanks to Shana's parents and everyone else that came to cheer on our Wildcats! Our Wildcats are so very excited to eat JUNK FOOD!!!

This was truly a meet to remeber, ending the season on such a high note has kept everyone so very excited for next season. We can't wait for what we can do next year.